ARLINGTON – Rangers rookie broadcaster Eric Nadel wasn’t sure if the ball popped down the left field line would drift into the stands or be caught.

In his mind, the broadcaster was preparing to tell his audience in 1979 either “that ball is foul” or “that ball is caught.”

But then Johnny Grubb’s opposite field fly ball floated into the stands in Seattle, a fair ball. And so Nadel ad-libbed.

“That ball,” Nadel said, “is history.”

Soon after Roy Parks, the Rangers broadcasting director, told the minor-league hockey announcer on whom he had taken a gamble, he liked the phrase.

Nadel’s chest swelled with pride. At a time his fondest hope was to be asked back for another season, Nadel knew his boss liked at least one aspect of his work. The call helped guarantee the start of history.

On Wednesday, after 35 seasons of satisfying bosses and connecting with Rangers’ fans, Nadel heard the decision of a 20-man panel made up largely of his peers. They told him they like his work well enough to have voted him the 2014 winner of the National Baseball

Hall of Fame’s Ford C. Frick Award, which is presented annually to a broadcaster for “major contributions to baseball.”

And so come July, the Brooklyn-born Nadel and his signature “that ball is history” will join his boyhood idols such as Mel Allen, Red Barber and Jerry Coleman when he too is recognized in Cooperstown.

Nadel, 62, was one of 10 finalists for the Frick award. But so he had been the last three years. He had planned to be on a workingvacation in Mexico this week. But John Blake, the Rangers executive vice president for communications, asked Nadel to hang around just in case the Hall called.

“I am incredibly thrilled, excited and flattered,” Nadel said Wednesday morning after he got his call. “To be in that category is amazing.”

In his early years with the Rangers, Nadel worked radio and television. He anchored himself in the radio booth in 1982 alongside Mark Holtz. For years, Nadel warded off persistent attempts by the Rangers to move back to television. Finally, the team gave up.

Nadel said he always found radio a better way to communicate with fans.

At a Wednesday afternoon news conference to celebrate the Frick Award at Rangers Ballpark, some of Nadel’s radio partners through the years said they marveled at his preparation and hard work that make his delivery sound so smooth and easy.

“I learned from him it’s all about preparation,” said Steve Busby, the Rangers TV voice, who briefly worked with Nadel. “And you have to bring it every day.”

Nadel who listened to the likes of Barber and Allen on Yankees broadcasts as a child, said he learned from them the need to “develop warmth” in his voice to bond with listeners.

One long-time listener, President George W. Bush, a former Rangers owner, phoned his congratulations to Nadel from Nigeria soon after the Hall’s morning announcement.

Nadel listed his call of Ryan’s 5,000th strikeout in 1989 as one of his personal favorites. Only his call of the Rangers winning their first American League pennant in 2010 ranks higher.

Ryan, a former Rangers chief executive officer, congratulated Nadel in a statement released by the team. “He has always made the games entertaining and informative. He is a Hall of Famer in every sense of the word and is very deserving of the honor.”

Eric Nadel’s favorite calls in the booth

1. The 2010 American League pennant-clinching strikeout of the Yankees Alex Rodriguez in the ALCS.

2. Nolan Ryan’s 5000th career strikeout of the A’s Ricky Henderson in 1989.

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